Exhibitions: Photographic Surrealism

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Photographic Surrealism

Dates: May 17, 1980 through July 13, 1980
Organizing Department: Prints, Drawings and Photographs
Collections: Photography

Press Releases

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May 17, 1980: Photographic Surrealism, on view at The Brooklyn Museum May 17 through July 13, provides the first comprehensive examination of the influence of surrealism on photography. 119 works will be shown, tracing the surrealist impulse through 19th-century photomontage to doctrinaire photographic surrealism and to wider influence and continuing effects on contemporary art, and on fashion and advertising. Artists represented include Eugene Atget, Man Ray, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Guy Bourdin, Brassaï, Hans Bellmar, René Magritte, David Hare, Raoul Ubac, Lucas Samaras, Deborah Turbeville, and Les Krims.

Nancy Hall-Duncan, Curator of the Exhibition, writes in the catalogue to the exhibition; “Photography became one of the many languages used to express surrealist imagery and meaning. It exerted a tremendous influence on a wide range of photographers during the 1920s and 1930s, including many photographers whose work is almost never considered in the context of surrealism.”

This influence lessened somewhat after World War II when the surrealists failed to regain leadership of the avant-garde. However, surrealist imagery persisted in fashion and advertising photography during the 1940s and 1950s, renewing the vitality of the genre. Mass media interpretations of the surrealist approach to visual form offer significant social commentary. In effect, society’s perceptions and values have been profoundly modified by surrealist visual formulations though few contemporary photographers acknowledge orthodox surrealism as a source of inspiration. Surrealist imagery, allussiveness, and sense of form, continue a vital course free of doctrine.

The exhibition was organized by The New Gallery of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio, with the aid of grants from The Cleveland Foundation, and The National Endowment for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Humanities, Federal agencies in Washington, D.C. A 72-page illustrated catalogue ($6.00) is available.

Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1971 - 1988. 1980, 021. View Original

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Recent Comments

"Hi Aimee, I think you mean Oreet Ashery? More information can be found in her profile on the Feminist Art Base: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/feminist_art_base/gallery/oreet_ashery.php?i=266"
By shelley

"Hi, I am trying to find the name of the artist who took and is in the photograph that follows- http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/exhibitions/664/Global_Feminisms_Remix/image/216/Global_Feminisms_Remix._%7C08032007_-_03032008%7C._Installation_view. I believe the artist takes pictures of herself dressed as a man but then exposes her femaleness, as in the photo of her dressed as an Ascetic Jew exposing her breast. Can you help me find her information? Thanks in advance- Aimee Record"
By Aimee Record

"For more information on Louis Schanker and the New York Art Scene of the mid 1900's go to http://www.LouisSchanker.info "
By Lou Siegel

April 16, 1980: Part-Time Students' Exhibition
April 23, 1980: Belgian Art: 1880-1914
April 27, 1980: Interior Exterior: Figurative Artists of Park Slope
May 4, 1980: In Search of Mount Analogue: Paintings by Susan Ebersole
May 17, 1980: Photographic Surrealism
May 17, 1980: Paintings from the Museum of Modern Art from the Twenties to the Seventies
June 8, 1980: Clinton Hill Artists
June 14, 1980: Fence Art Show Award Winners: 1979
June 15, 1980: Summer Faculty Show

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Prints, Drawings and Photographs

Over the years, the collections of the Brooklyn Museum have been organized and reorganized in different ways. Collections of the former Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs include works on paper that may fall into other categories: American Art, European Art, Asian Art, Contemporary Art, and Photography.

The Brooklyn Museum Archives maintains a collection of historical press releases. Many of these have been scanned and made available on our Web site. The releases range from brief announcements to extensive articles; images of the original releases have been included for your reference. Please note that all the original typographical elements, including occasional errors, have been retained. Releases may also contain errors as a result of the scanning process. We welcome your feedback about corrections.

For select exhibitions, we have made available some or all of the informative text panels written by the curator or organizer. Called "didactics," these panels are presented to the public during the exhibition's run, and we reproduce them here for your reference and archival interest. Please note that any illustrations on the original didactics have not been retained, and that the text may contain errors as a result of the scanning process. We welcome your feedback about corrections.

For select exhibitions, we have made available some or all of the objects from the Brooklyn Museum collection that were in the installation. These objects are listed here for your reference and archival interest, but the list may be incomplete and does not contain objects owned by other institutions or lenders.

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Exhibitions: Photographic Surrealism

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